Mistake or not? People who started Iraq war are having second thoughts

An Iraqi baby lies in a cradle while a woman argues with U.S. soldiers of 1/8 Bravo Company searching for weapons, explosives and information about militants in the area during a foot patrol in a neighbourhood of Mosul June 26, 2008 (Reuters / Eduardo Munoz) / Reuters

The number of Americans thinking the Iraq invasion was a good thing dwindled from 75% in 2003 to 42% in a recent Gallup poll. RT asked some of the politicians behind the decision to intervene if ten years on they still think it was right thing to do.

The 2003 "shock and awe" attack on Baghdad, which began an
almost decade-long campaign in Iraq was first to be approved of by
US and British MPs The two countries summoned the so-called
'coalition of the willing', after the UN Security Council did not
agree on a military operation in Iraq. The pretext for invading was
allegations Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. As they’ve been
never found, the main justification for the invasion is
lacking.

Still, some of those who voted for invading don’t think they
were wrong:

“No, I don’t regret voting in that way, because I think the
people of Iraq have been freed… Of course, you regret any number of
people who died, but the big question is: what was the intent of
Saddam Hussein against his own people? We have already seen that we
had a very repressive regime,” Liam Fox, UK Conservative Party
chairman from 2003 to 2005 said RT.

What Iraqis got in exchange for “a very repressive regime” could
hardly be called a better and safer life. In fact it has been ten
years of bloodshed, which is not over yet. Baghdad is seeing
explosions in its streets almost on a daily basis.

At least 134,000 civilians in Iraq have lost their lives
following the US-led invasion and according to a report by the
Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University the
overall number of casualties could be 4 times higher. Around 5,000
coalition soldiers died according to estimates by iCasaualties.org.
UN High Commission for Refugees says more than 2 million people
were displaced in the conflict.

Add to that the US war expenses, which the Brown University
study has so far put at more than 2 trillion dollars. And still
some American military officials remain undaunted by the numbers
and believe what they did 10 years ago was actually a good
thing.

“I think it was very necessary for us to do something to help
the Middle East achieve a degree of freedom that it hadn’t had
before. Now, a lot of people are going to argue with that, the Iraq
invasion did not provide the types of freedom that we had
originally envisioned, but what they were dealing with was the
regime that did not allow any freedoms and now, depending on where
you are in Iraq, there’s at least a semblance of some freedom,”
Col. Cedric Leighton from Washington DC told RT.

He didn’t specify where exactly the places with semblance of
freedom are to be found.

The number of Americans, thinking the military campaign in Iraq
wasn’t worth it has been growing. Ten years ago a Gallup poll
showed 75% were for and 23% against the invasion. According to the
same poll, conducted on the eve of the 10th anniversary, 42% still
support the move while 53% of Americans consider it a mistake.

At least some of the decision makers have joined those 53
percent and acknowledge they were wrong.

"In anyone's candid moments, they will tell you were it not
for the WMD, we wouldn't have authorized use of force there,"
said Senator Jeff Flake in an interview with USA Today.
Flake, who as a member of the House voted in support of the joint
resolution that led to the Iraq invasion, went on to say: "I
don't attribute any nefarious motives to President Bush or those
involved. I think we were just wrong. Sometimes, you're
wrong."

Among British decision makers acting a decade ago there’s also a
man, who changed his mind. Lord John Prescott, who in 2003 was Tony
Blair’s Deputy Prime Minister and believed a military operation
against Saddam Hussein was necessary told RT he would not agree to
it, if he had known what he knew now. He believes it was regime
change, though “it always used to be denied that it was regime
change.”

“And I want the lesson to be learned and we shouldn’t repeat
it again. These countries must develop in their own ways,” Lord
Prescott concludes.